Unlock districts if 70% of vulnerable groups vaccinated, Centre’s advice

The states can consider lifting the lockdown-like restrictions in districts where 70 per cent of the vulnerable people – the 60 plus population and 45 plus individuals with comorbidities – received the vaccine and the test positivity rate is 5 per cent or lower, health officials said on Tuesday.

They said the government was aiming for a one crore vaccination per day by August and hope to vaccinate India's entire target population by the end of 2021.

The opening up of the states, said ICMR chief Balram Bhargava, should revolve around three pillars – (1) seven day test positivity rate of 5 per cent or less (2) 70 per cent vaccination of the vulnerable group and (3) community ownership of the Covid-appropriate behaviour.

Currently, there are 350 districts – nearly half of India – where test positivity is less than 5 per cent. As many as 30 states and union territories – barring a few in the North East, Sikkim and Ladakh – reported a decline in active cases since last week.

Also read: India to have enough shots to vaccinate 1 crore a day by July-August: Centre

Bhargava said while an increase in testing and containment at the district level helped bring down the caseload, it would be unwise to rely on such factors in the long run as they were not a “sustainable solution.”

Rejecting the claims of vaccine shortage, the Indian Council of Medical Research chief said there would be enough vaccines to inoculate one crore individuals daily by August. For comparison, 22.08 lakh doses were administered till 7 pm on June 1.

"There is no shortage of vaccines. This (shortage) is what you feel if you want to vaccinate the country within a month. Our population is four times that of the USA. We need to have some patience. By mid-July, or early August, we'll have enough doses for one crore vaccination a day and by December, we hope to have the entire country vaccinated," he said.

Bhargava echoed Union Minister Prakash Javadekar, who earlier had claimed that the entire country would receive the vaccine by December.

Their assertion comes weeks after NITI Ayog member and the government’s top Covi advisor V K Paul made a public presentation on how the Centre hoped to get 216 crore doses by December 2021 to vaccinate 95 crore Indians.

Besides an increased supply of Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik-V, Paul said there would be 71 crore doses of five new vaccines. But all of these vaccines are undergoing trials and yet to receive regulatory clearance.

Experts pointed out that even with an increased supply, vaccinating such a huge population is a daunting task considering the level of vaccine hesitancy prevalent in rural areas and smaller towns.

Also read: Don't mix Covid-19 vaccines yet, stick to SOP: Health Ministry

“Daily average inoculations have now increased to 25 lakhs after reaching a low of 14 lakhs two weeks back. Till now 12.3 per cent population has been given single-dose and 3.2 per cent double dose. The government now had to administer 82 lakh doses per day as against the present 25 lakh to fully vaccinate all the 18 plus population by the year-end,” said Rijo John, an adjunct professor of health economics at the Rajagiri Institute of Social Sciences, Kochi.